Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 134 Entries. Monday, January 1 View Page I enjoyed talking to Mike from the AGGC. Super guy.   Thursday, January 4 View Page My 300 gallon tanks and Gantry Crane, are getting buried, because of today's Nor' Easter Snow Bomb. 12-14 inches so far.   Saturday, January 6 View Page Extremely cold (-12F) outside with the windchill. I'm getting cabin fever. So I started a contest. and right now the Giant Sequoia is bigger that the Giant Pumpkin. We'll see if that changes this coming summer.   Tuesday, January 30 View Page I wish I had my winter rye cover crop in. All this rain is causing the soil in my garden to erode into the yard.   Thursday, February 8 View Page Starting to sort through my Bushel Gourd seeds. Certainly is a wide variation of seed sizes. But judging by the weight of the BG's they came from, Big or Small they all seem capable of producing the same size fruit.   Thursday, February 8 View Page Sorting through some of my Bushel Gourd seeds yesterday.... Noticed a wide variation in seed size. It appears (based on the weights on the seed packs) that the seeds, Big or Small, all seem capable of producing the same size fruit,   Monday, February 19 View Page Nothing to see here. Just snow and Cool Bird Houses that Pap gave me. Thanks Pap.   Monday, February 19 View Page Straight.   Monday, February 19 View Page I am Groot. My Giant Sequoia Tree, if packing on the timber. Grow Groot Grow.   Thursday, March 1 View Page My compost makers have been busy this winter   Sunday, March 4 View Page Soils not frozen. Time to move some compost and dirt   Friday, March 23 View Page Started a test run of the pumpkin plants. Went 5 for 5. If only I can be this lucky when I do the real thing in April...   Saturday, March 24 View Page These yellow Heating Coils really work nice for germination of seeds in big 1 gallon pots. Just went 10 for 10 germination rate, in the close mini green house shown. These are all practice runs. I still use heating mats for the small 1 pint pots   Saturday, March 24 View Page Two weeks ago there was no snow and the ground was not frozen..I was tilling and digging my planting holes...But things change. Took this picture 10 minutes ago. My patch is now buried in the white stuff, after 4 storms. Since I'm a glass half full guy, lets look at this snow positively and say.... I got lots of poor mans nitrogen in the patch.   Friday, March 30 View Page Here are my Spring soil Test Results. Micro Nutrients are fine. (Ideal Ph is 6.4-7.2) So my Ph is high, but not too high, where it could restrict nutrient availablity uptake. I don't care about the excessive Magnesium and Calcium levels. Pumpkins will only take what they need. The "Off the charts" high Phosphorous levels scare me though. Root growth could get be phenomenal ....in a bad way, meaning possible foamers. Time will tell...   Sunday, April 1 View Page Starting to dig my planting holes. Good for deep aerated soil   Sunday, April 8 View Page Nice presentation by Joe Jutras at the SNGPG Seminar today.   Sunday, April 8 View Page Our sponsors, Neptunes Harvest, Davidson Mighty Mustard, Don Langevin, WOW Products , North American Products, Bioworks Rootshield through Michael Fleming, were very generous with the free door prizes. There was something for everyone in attendance today.   Wednesday, April 11 View Page Some of my Pumpkins will be grown in their 5 ft diameter by 2 1/2 ft deep planting holes with a 30% mix of peat/pumpkin pro mychorizzae/perlite, with 70% garden soil. Lots of aeration for the roots of the plant. Hopefully they will thrive. With all this drainage I'll need to water heavily this summer   Saturday, April 14 View Page I increased the size of my mini green houses, from 6 x 6 ft.... to 7 x 8 ft. Photo shows 2 of the new ones. The fold down ends make access very easy. With my early starts I found that the pumpkin plants were out growing the little 6 x 6 ft cloches before the last frosts.   Sunday, April 15 View Page Here is my 2018 giant pumpkin seed selection. Bushel Gourds seed selection will be made in May   Sunday, April 15 View Page Snow is starting to accumulate on the spruce branches in the background, but not the ground. Cold outside. Still low 30's   Thursday, April 19 View Page They all sprouted. I should be planting in the patch in 5 days.... Now if only the weather would warm up outside   Friday, April 20 View Page Keeping the pupmkin plants outdoors in the day. Inside the mini green houses.   Friday, April 20 View Page Keeping the pumpkin plants outdoors in the day. Getting them familiar with a full dose of sunlight, inside the warm mini green houses.   Friday, April 20 View Page Garden is tilled. Hoop Houses are anchored in place to warm up the planting area.   Saturday, April 21 View Page I got to work in Indiana for the week. So I moved my plants. Joe Jutras generously offered to let me keep them in his larger greenhouse for a week. Thanks, Joe!   Saturday, April 28 View Page Planted all the giant pumpkins on Thursday into the warm green houses. Thank you Joe Jutras for caring for them while I was traveling last week.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Went over to help Ron Wallace do some stuff this morning. Hmmmm.... Looks like he has something new in his patch.   Tuesday, May 1 View Page 38F this morning. I have insulated the inner hoops to hold the heat from the 2 lamps. No need to heat the whole hoop house. Works great and saves energy.   Saturday, May 5 View Page I have two plants in every planting area. Today I have to make my cull decision, and go from 8 to 4 pumpkin plants.   Sunday, May 6 View Page The Bushel Gourds sprouted yesterday. They were planted on May 1st.   Sunday, May 13 View Page Plants are slowly growing. Could us a little sun and warm weather. Keepingthe lights and fans on 24/7. This is the 2363, almost ready to touch down.   Sunday, May 13 View Page Its free. Collected another 600 gallons of rain water in the last 48 hours. Added some epsom salts to the tanks for Magnesium and sulphur.   Sunday, May 13 View Page A bunch of Bushel Gourds came up over the last few days. Will be planting outdoors in a few days, in heated green houses.   Sunday, May 13 View Page A bunch of my Bushel Gourd plant s came up. Will be planting the outdoors in a few days, in heated green houses.   Thursday, May 17 View Page My Bushel Gourds are ready to plant. I need 2 and have 8 if anyone local needs one, please let me know.   Thursday, May 17 View Page Houston the Eagle has landed. This is the 2145.   Saturday, May 19 View Page I planted some of my 245 Bushel Gourds yesterday. Was 42F this morning. Even though they were in the green house all night, with the lights. I'll bet they didn't like that cold air   Sunday, May 20 View Page Got my kneeling boards in place so the soil and roots around the stump don't get hard-packed.   Sunday, May 20 View Page The 2261Wallace is starting to run at a good pace. Glad I built the bigger 7ft x 8ft green houses. 6ft x 6ft was too small.   Sunday, May 27 View Page My plants are outgrowing their 8 ft greenhouses. Shown are the 2307Wallace and 2363Holland. Dropping into the 40's tonight so I'll cover them.   Sunday, May 27 View Page I added the extension covers to all the plant like the one shown over the 2261 Wallace. Gonna be cold tonight. All the greenhouses will be permanently removed for the season tomorrow.   Monday, May 28 View Page My Bushel Gourds are getting ready to Vine out and start running   Monday, May 28 View Page Set a goal to remove the 4 greenhouses covering the pumpkin plants, since we got a week in the 80s coming up. Thought it would be easy...took all day.... to remove the greenhouses, fans, lights, heaters, extension cords, cinder blocks, wood planks, hoses, then amend the soil, bury more Wow starter packs, re-till the garden, then install the 4 wind break fences. I'm done for the day... Shown is the 2363... looking a little yellow from the lack of sun.   Friday, June 1 View Page My 245 BG has landed in Tranquility Bay Dirt. Its on a slow drip feed of 5-10-27 Stollers Urea Mate, Essential 12-12-12, fulvic/humic acid, fish and trace amounts of ABOUND fungicide   Friday, June 1 View Page The 2363 Holland seed really looks strong. Plant is growing nicely. Gave all the plants a top dressing of Fish, Peat and 2 year old Composted chicken manure. Will till it in as the vines are buried.   Friday, June 1 View Page Outback behind our house the Giant Snappers are active, laying eggs. This one is almost 18 inches in diameter   Sunday, June 3 View Page 2145 is basking in the sun and the main is running at a good pace. Long way to go. If you look closely 1st pumpkin is showing at 13 ft next to the bamboo sticks.   Sunday, June 3 View Page The 2363 was culled today of its 1st pumpkin at 10 ft. 2nd pumpkin is showing at 15 ft. Hopefully its the keeper   Sunday, June 3 View Page The main vine on my 245 Bushel Gourd has hit pay dirt and is starting to run. Run baby run....   Tuesday, June 5 View Page Dealing with some Slug damage to the Pumpkin leaves. This stuff should do the trick.   Friday, June 8 View Page Pollinated the 2307 today at 12ft. 5 lober. This one is early...Not sure if I'll keep it. But for now, it pollinated with the 2145 and sitting there. I pollinate 2 other plants at 9 ft, but culled them a few days later.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page I should be able to pollinate my 2nd pumpkin on the 2363 (shown) in a few days. Added some Epsom salts last week to help with a minor magnesium deficieny. Looks like the plant is healthy now.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page I'm still thinking about keeping my early set on the 2145x2363. Its about 12 ft out. Was pollinated on June 8th. Always wanted to try an early set. But the new pumpkins are now showing at about 15ft under the table. Decision time.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page Starting to get side vines on my 245 Bushel Gourd. Main is about 8-9 ft now.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page Here is the picture of the 2363 I meant to attach. On second thought the flower on this plant at 15 ft might open tomorrow if I'm lucky.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page Crossed the 2363x2145 at 15ft. Didn't think this flower would open. Finally opened at 7am.   Thursday, June 14 View Page My 245 Bushel Gourd is really starting run now. I need to back fill the pre planned main vine channel with the compost tomorrow.   Saturday, June 16 View Page Crossed the 2145x2363 today, 15.5 ft on the main vine. Picture is below. Now I need to decide what to do with the pumpkin I set on this plant, on June 8th at 10.5 ft.   Saturday, June 16 View Page The 2261 main vine is out to 18 ft. Got a pumpkin on it at 15.5 ft which I hope to pollinate tomorrow. The pumpkin set on June 10th was culled. It had malformed lobes, so I knew trouble with its shape, would start in a few weeks.   Saturday, June 16 View Page The 2363 is out to 19 ft. The pumpkin set on it on June 13th at 15.5 ft., is doing fine. Shading it so the sun doesn't bake the little bugger. Drenched all the plants today with some 5-10-27 Stollers Urea Mate. Azos, Rootshield and Pumpkin Pro were buried under every leaf node   Tuesday, June 19 View Page My 2307x2363 looks like its going to be a tall pumpkin.   Saturday, June 23 View Page The 245 Bushel Gourd Plant is in full "run" mode. Vines are putting on about 6" per day. I pollinated one female at 7 ft, as a test. Will cull it next week.   Saturday, June 23 View Page This is my 2145x2363. 5 DAP. This one is huge. It must weigh a whopping 1 pound. lol   Saturday, June 23 View Page Cold Rainy day today. So I got out to see 3 growers. 1st stop was in Connecticut to Gene Lariviere's patch. He's got a lot of pumpkins this year. The 2 just behind him are the 1969 Daletas plants   Saturday, June 23 View Page 2nd stop was over at Ron Wallace's patch. The plants he started in Green Houses were huge. allowing Ron to pollinate these two plants way, way out on the main.   Saturday, June 23 View Page Ron's long time friend Calvin, helps keep WOW shipments going out fast. Here they are transplanting the Sunflowers.   Saturday, June 23 View Page Ron has been growing heirloom tomatoes and Giant Tomato's for years. I like the Ground cover idea for weed control. I think half the Mater varieties this world has to offer are in Rons Garden.   Saturday, June 23 View Page Final stop was at Steve Sperry's patch. His 2 plants were huge, after a start in his 30x24 greenhouse. He plans on tilling in the Mustard tomorrow, before the heavy rains come. It decomposes faster if its tilled under when its wet.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Stink Bugs have found the traps I got at WOW. Caught 4 this week. Hopefully these will help me avoid getting CYVD in the plants   Monday, June 25 View Page Starting to set out the Mill Cloths under the pumpkins. This is the 2363x2145. Caught 4 SVB's last week   Wednesday, June 27 View Page On the road again.....Quiet night so we drove over to Mike Flemings patch in Hanson, MA. As shown, He has some nice ones going on the 561 crossed with the 1297 Young. I'll bet this one will be a purdy orange.   Friday, June 29 View Page Look at the kisser on this one. My 2261x2363 10DAP. Not growing as fast as I would like, but there is a lot of plant (15.5 ft) behind it so hopefully it kicks into gear after 3 inches of rain yesterday.   Friday, June 29 View Page My 2145x2363 (13DAP) has a nice shape. I wish it was a little bigger. After a 3 week drought, all that rain yesterday (3 inches) should help though   Saturday, June 30 View Page Here is the 2307x2363 10DAP. Its got a weird blossom end heavy shape. and its kind of small for a 10 day old pumpkin, But I'm going with it, ....and just incase, I have not culled the back up (which was pollinated on June 27th) on this plant yet.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Buried all the side vines on the 2145x2363, early this morning, to beat the heat. Gonna be a roaster out there today.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Here is the 2307x2363, thatI meant to attach in the last post.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Nice evening drive down to Plymouth, MA. Visted Brett and Lisa Rowe. His 3 plants looked great. He has a nice one going on the 1358 Marley. See lower left of picture   Tuesday, July 3 View Page Hard at work watering the garden.   Tuesday, July 3 View Page Here is my 2145x2363. Well set and growing good. Maine vine is startingto lift with the pumpkin   Tuesday, July 3 View Page This is the 2261x2363. 14DAP. Had to lift it up to prevent the blossom from going under. Once the flat area develops underneath the pumpkin I'll put it back onto the Mill cloth.   Tuesday, July 3 View Page This is the 2307x2363. 13DAP. It was off to a slow start, but now its starting to kick into gear.   Wednesday, July 4 View Page Not Bad. I caught 29 SVB's in the Helios Trap, which I'm using for the University of New Hampshire study.   Wednesday, July 4 View Page July 4th, and my pumpkin ghetto is surviving a long heat wave.. Shade covers up for sun protection. Watered the patch today. Garden dries out every 3 hours. Soil is bone dry in spots which could explain the slow pumpkin growth.   Saturday, July 7 View Page My 2261x2363 photo taken today. This could become a tall wheel. Will need to manage its growth carefully   Sunday, July 8 View Page Running a little low on aged leaf compost, so drove down to the town leaf compost pile, and loaded up my trailer. Got this from the 4 year old pile. Looks like regular loam with lots of rocks. Steve   Sunday, July 8 View Page The 2307 18 DAP. Finally growing rapidly.   Sunday, July 15 View Page 2307x2363 25DAP... Getting ready for rapid growth phase. Patch is almost full   Sunday, July 15 View Page 2363x2145. at 32 DAP. This one has slowed down to a snails pace growth rate. Possibly Heat abort is underway, or possibly CYVD. Can't figure this one out.   Sunday, July 15 View Page The 2261Wallace x 2363 Holland, at 26 DAP, looks real promising. Growing faster every day. This plants roots are sucking the patch dry, daily, which is a good sign.   Sunday, July 15 View Page This is one of my 245x245 Bushel Gourds. I started doing some test pollinations. No keepers yet. Its tool early.   Sunday, July 15 View Page My 2145x2363 at 29 DAP. Gonna be an orange one if all goes well. Will need to move this one soon. Glad I have a Mill Cloth stacked onto another mill cloth. Will make moving it much easier (I hope)   Friday, July 20 View Page I think my(245 Connolly) Bushel Gourd is pollinated, so I put the mill cloth and sand under it.   Friday, July 20 View Page My 2145x2363 is growing at a real good rate. Got a slight bird bath in the shape. Will need to keep drying that out. Taping at 600 pounds   Friday, July 20 View Page This is my 2261 Wallace x2363 Holland. Its growing at a fast rate of over 40/bs per day during the last week. I hope she doesn't blow up. Very tall pumpkin, with great genetics   Friday, July 20 View Page My 2307x2363 needs a trim. The pumpkin is overtaking the surrounding leaves. Its another tall one. Soccer ball added for scale. WE got 1" of rain each of the last 3 weeks, which has been very helpful with my drench. Sprayed all the plants with Merit and ABOUND fungicide last night. There was an increase in Cucumber beetles. Caught 17 SVB in the last week.   Sunday, July 22 View Page Just another lazy day in the patch. Low 80's and a light rain fell all day long   Tuesday, July 24 View Page My mighty little 245 Bushel Gourd is enjoying its corner of the patch and starting to grow. a little faster every day.   Monday, July 30 View Page My 245x245 Bushel Gourd is taping around 20 lbs. I am growing it in its side. again this year. It is 20 ft out just off the main on a secondary.   Monday, July 30 View Page The 2145x2363 is not doing much. Its taping 626lbs, and slowed down to 8lbs per day. The pumpkin has about (10) 3 inch long chew marks from mice. (caught one last night). It was devastated by SVB's, (picked out 30 leaves so far), and the Main turned yellow and stopped growing due to CYVD. Looking for an early Fair if this one makes it through another couple weeks. Its a Pretty orange though.   Monday, July 30 View Page Getting some real wide shoulders on the 2261x2363.   Friday, August 3 View Page Drove down to Little Rhody in Foster, RI to make a compost pick up and.....   Friday, August 3 View Page Made a pick up of 2.5 yards of Composted Chicken Manure at Little Rhody Egg Farm. Will mix this in with my own compost pile and let it sit for another year.   Friday, August 3 View Page Stopped by to visit Ron Wallace this morning in Rhode Island. He has some very healthy looking plants and a bunch of Big Ones going in the Wallace Farm garden. SNGPG patch Tour stop at his house in a few weeks is going to be a blast.   Saturday, August 4 View Page I really like the color of my 2145x2363 cross. Hope to get this one over 1000 pounds   Saturday, August 4 View Page Gave my pumpkins their annual fungicide scrubdown of Sulpher, Abound and Subdue. Wore heavy rubber gloves and long sleeve clothing, for this job.   Sunday, August 5 View Page My 245x245 Bushel gourd is starting to show its size. Still a perfect sphere, so it hasn't developed a flat on the bottom yet.   Sunday, August 5 View Page My Bushel Gourd Plant looks good and healthy. All vines buried and rooting. Lots of Leaves.   Thursday, August 9 View Page My 2261 x 2363 is starting to look like Rons 2009 (a little bit). Tape around 1300 still putting on 37lb per day.   Friday, August 10 View Page My Bushel Gourd is getting measurement worthy. Will start doing OTT's in a couple days.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Perfect Timing for my 2261x2363. I sprayed my plants with my power ferts (high in N,P,K), then we got 1.5 inches of Rain, which helps to wash the leaves clean   Saturday, August 11 View Page Lazy Rainy Day. Can't work in the patch after applying al the ferts. So drove to Topsfield to visit Woody. He has some nice BIG ONES going.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Next stop was in Ipswich, MA to visit Armand Michaud. There were a few monsters out back, in his patch. Shown is Armand with his 1928.5 Daletas x 2090.5 Stelts. Very nice shape. Kinda looks like Scott Marley's pumpkin out on Prudence Island in RI.   Sunday, August 12 View Page Took my first measurements on the 245x245 Bushel Gourd OTT = 187, which by the chart = 166 pounds. Plant drenched with Stollers 5-27-15 Urea Mate, and Neptune's Harvest Fish/Seaweed..   Saturday, August 18 View Page I loaded one up for the Marshfield Fair. Weigh-off is in a couple hours. I better get moving. Those Yellow Hold Downs that Eddy Z made are really cool. GPC gets some too. Love this time of the year.   Saturday, August 18 View Page My 2261x2363 pumpkin weighed in at 1602 pounds at the Marshfield Fair. About 15% heavy. A Good solid pumpkin and happy to get it officially weighed   Saturday, August 18 View Page There was a nice turnout at the Marshfield Fair. Mike Fleming did an excellent job as MC for the event.   Sunday, August 26 View Page My Trifecta Mustard crop is growing good. I planted the seed on different weeks, That's why the plants are at varying heights   Sunday, August 26 View Page I left small remnants of the pumpkin plants up, and in this small collection of leaves I'm catching a lot of Stink Bugs, Cucumber beetles, and some of the 2nd generation of Squash Vine Borers, with my phermone traps and Merit. This should help reduce their numbers for next year.   Sunday, August 26 View Page My 245 Bushel Gourd is packing on the pounds now. I keep it covered 24/7 to prevent it from ripening in the sun.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page This season if really getting into the late stages when you are harvesting seeds. Mike Fleming and I harvested a bunch from 3 of the entries at Marshfield Fair , including my 1602.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Forgot to attached this picture   Friday, August 31 View Page My 245 Bushel Gourd plant is really spreading out. Its a daily chore keeping the tertiary vines trimmed.   Monday, September 3 View Page Spent the morning at the Woodstock Fair. Thanks Gene for getting me in. Got to see all the entries. So many of the original growers who entered pumpkins at the fair, were still there... 5 days after the weigh-off.... manning the display of all the entries in the tent. These are very dedicated growers.   Monday, September 3 View Page Wow. Was over at Ron's talking pumpkin this morning. Then we get into a heated discussion about benefits of Broad Fork soil loosening. Before I knew it Ron gave me a Broad Fork, as long as I promised to put it to good use. Thanks Ron! Will do!   Thursday, September 6 View Page Well it looks like its time for me to till under my first crop of Mustard   Saturday, September 8 View Page Sealing the Soil. Now that the Mustard is tilled under and the soil has been drenched, let the biofumigation begin.   Monday, September 10 View Page I did not take this picture of a cut open Bushel Gourd. Someone else did. I re-posted it to show a grower the inside of a Bushel Gourd   Sunday, September 16 View Page Steady Steady......don't rock the boat, this one is still growing . I ope to bring it either to the Topsfield Fair (2 wks) or Frerichs Farm (3 wks), depending on how it goes.   Thursday, September 27 View Page Drove up to New Hmpshire to join the caravan of Growers goingto the Deerfield Fair. At the head of the line was the huge Geddes Pumpkin. To a photo withSteve Geddes, Joe Jutras and myself   Thursday, September 27 View Page ...and the winner of the Deerfield Fair up in Deerfield New Hampshire is:.....Steve Geddes with this 2528 pound monster and New North American Record Giant Pumpkin. A NHGPGA grown pumpkin   Friday, October 5 View Page Getting ready for the trip to the Frerichs Farm Weigh-off with my Bushel Gourd.   Thursday, October 11 View Page Bushel Gourds got Brains. Discovered that when I broke my 245 open for seeds. Not hollow like Pumpkins